Art critic Andrew Durbin reviews national pavilion presentations at the Venice Biennale, contrasting a vacuous US exhibition with incisive and moving installations from Britain and Germany. The review highlights the disparity in thematic depth and emotional resonance among the three pavilions.
At the 2026 Venice Biennale's Arsenale, critic Andrew Durbin reviews national pavilions, finding the US presentation vacuous and lacking meaning, while praising the British and German pavilions for their incisive and moving installations that resist erasure. The review highlights a stark contrast in curatorial ambition and political engagement among the participating nations.
The article is a critic's guide to the 2026 Venice Biennale, highlighting key installations and pavilions in the Arsenale and Giardini. It features works such as fierce pussy's posters welcoming LGBTQ+ visitors and Florentina Holzinger's water-themed Austrian Pavilion, among other notable presentations.
Artist Aki Sasamoto has opened a new solo exhibition at Studio Voltaire in London. The show features her signature blend of performance and sculptural objects, with the central motif emerging from a beach-house grill, grounding the work in personal narrative and physical process.
The City of Santa Monica has officially opened the Santa Monica City Gallery, its first municipal art space, located within the Bergamot Station Arts Center. The gallery launched with the inaugural exhibition "Case Study: Adapt," which showcases architectural models designed by students and professional firms to address housing needs for families displaced by the 2025 California wildfires. The venue is designed to host a rotating schedule of exhibitions, artist residencies, and selections from the city’s permanent Art Bank collection.
第10回マックスマーラ・アート・プライズ・フォー・ウィメン
The 10th Max Mara Art Prize for Women has been awarded to Indonesian artist Dian Suci, marking the first time the prize has been held in Asia. Suci was selected from five finalists for her project "Crafting Spirit: Cultural Dialogues in Heritage and Practice," which examines the intersection of religious craftsmanship traditions and capitalist systems. The prize is organized in partnership with the Museum MACAN in Jakarta. Suci will undertake a six-month residency in Italy, followed by solo exhibitions in 2027 at both Museum MACAN and Collezione Maramotti in Reggio Emilia.
A new exhibition titled 'About Women' featuring seven decades of work by photographer Dorothy Bohm opens at Farleys House & Gallery, the former home of photographer Lee Miller. The show highlights Bohm's female-focused street photography, spanning from black-and-white to color work, and draws a direct connection to Miller's legacy.
The article announces a series of May art exhibitions across multiple galleries in Key West, Florida. The Studios of Key West opens four solo shows: Tim Marshall Curtis's "Giants Among Us" featuring towering sculptures, Carole Faye's "Reverence/Irrelevance" with works made from scavenged materials, Andree B. Carter's "Roots of a City" textile paintings, and Wayne Garcia's "Once There Was a Railroad" hand-carved reliefs. Other venues include the Key West Collective featuring Steve Bikis and Brad Gruss, Harrison Gallery showcasing Santa Fe artist Melinda K. Hall, Gallery on Greene honoring Peter Vey, and Shade and Shutter Gallery highlighting Mark Klammer's pottery.
The Gallery of Contemporary Mosaics in Chicago has opened a new group exhibition titled "Perspectives from Japan," featuring works by eight Japanese artists, including master mosaicist Toyoharu Kii. Kii, known for his monochromatic white marble pieces, has taught at the Chicago Mosaic School for over a decade and traveled from Tokyo for the show, which runs through July 12. The exhibition aims to highlight the artistic sophistication of mosaic as a contemporary fine-art medium.
Five British museums have been shortlisted for the 2025 Art Fund Museum of the Year, the world's largest museum prize. The finalists are Beamish, The Living Museum of the North in County Durham; Chapter arts centre in Cardiff; Compton Verney gallery in Warwickshire; Golden Thread Gallery in Belfast; and Perth Museum in Scotland. Beamish, a 55-year-old open-air museum, recently completed its "Remaking Beamish" project recreating a 1950s town with 32,000 community members. Perth Museum opened in March 2024 after a £27m renovation and houses the Stone of Destiny. The winner will be announced on 26 June at the Museum of Liverpool, receiving £120,000, while each of the other finalists gets £15,000.
On June 7, Manila-based Léon Gallery Art and Antiquities held its Spectacular Mid-Year Auction, kicking off the gallery's 15th-anniversary celebrations. The sale featured modern and contemporary works by leading Filipino artists, including Fernando Zóbel, Juan Luna, and Vicente Manansala. A standout lot was Anita Magsaysay-Ho's *Water Carriers / Taga-igib* (1947), an egg tempera work that sold for over PHP 60 million (about $1.08 million). Another key highlight was Fernando Amorsolo's *The Burning of Manila* (1942), which set a record for the artist's wartime paintings at PHP 36.04 million ($645,460). The painting, from the collection of Don Enrique “EZ” Zóbel, had been on loan to the National Museum of Fine Arts, Manila, for about a decade before auction.
Paul Chan, the artist known for his early digital video works, is preparing for a new exhibition at Greene Naftali titled "Automa Mon Amour," opening March 12, featuring his latest "breathers"—kinetic windsock-like sculptures powered by fans. Chan, who quit making art in 2009 to found the indie publishing house Badlands Unlimited, has since returned to art-making with analog-focused works, yet simultaneously developed Paul’ (Paul Prime), a sophisticated AI project that creates a digital version of himself using his personal data, writings, and interviews. The article explores the contradiction between Chan's rejection of screens and his engagement with highly technical, code-intensive digital art.
The IFPDA Foundation held its annual benefit at Christie's, celebrating printmaking with an evening of conversation and the second annual Studio Visit initiative. The event featured a discussion between artist Ana Benaroya and Leslie-Lohman Museum Associate Director Judy Giera on printmaking and queer contributions to the medium, with attendees including artists, curators, and collectors. The Studio Visit sale, offering access to artists' studios, runs through October 24.
A roundup of summer shopping, dining, and cultural offerings in the Hamptons highlights new collaborations and pop-ups. Artist Joel Mesler partners with French swimwear brand Vilebrequin on a capsule collection featuring his signature beach balls and balloons, ahead of his "Miles of Smiles" exhibition at Guild Hall in August. Chanel opens a salon at the Hedges Inn, while Mary Lou's brings its refined coastal dining from Palm Beach to Montauk. Other notable openings include Shooster Arts & Literature, a living gallery in Sag Harbor with works by Picasso, Ginsberg, Holzer, and Albers; Giorgio Armani Mare's pop-up on Shelter Island supporting the One Ocean Foundation; Sézane's Amour Tour at the Maidstone; Zimmermann's restored bank boutique in Southampton; Swifty's restaurant pop-up at the Hedges Inn; and The Hills, a luxury lifestyle development by Mike Meldman's Discovery Land Company.
The Serpentine Summer Party took place in London's Kensington Gardens, drawing a glamorous crowd to celebrate Bangladeshi architect Marina Tabassum's 25th Anniversary Serpentine Pavilion, titled "A Capsule in Time." Co-hosted by actor Cate Blanchett, the event featured musical performances by Caroline Polachek and GALLiVANTER, along with exhibitions by Giuseppe Penone and Sir Peter Cook. Notable attendees included Serpentine Board Chairman Michael Bloomberg, Artistic Director Hans Ulrich Obrist, CEO Bettina Korek, and a host of celebrities and cultural figures.
Romania is set to hold a re-run presidential election on May 4, 2025, after the original election was annulled due to allegations of Russian interference favoring far-right candidate Călin Georgescu. With Georgescu barred, another far-right candidate, George Simion, leads polls, sparking protests and online debates over nationalism, LGBTQ rights, and foreign relations. The political turmoil has affected the art scene, with gallery founder Suzana Vasilescu reporting a standstill in art sales and tension among collectors, though the scene remains resilient. Upcoming events like the RAD art fair and Art Encounters Biennale are proceeding, but art professionals express vigilance against potential nationalist pressures.
The German government has established a new council, the Coordination Council for Returns of Cultural Property and Human Remains from Colonial Contexts, to oversee the restitution of artifacts acquired during the colonial era. The council will include representatives from federal, state, and municipal authorities and is intended to provide a structured, national approach to handling these complex returns.
The Philadelphia Museum of Art has rebranded itself as the Philadelphia Art Museum, a change announced on Wednesday. The museum worked with branding studio Gretel, known for clients like the Museum of Modern Art and Crystal Bridges Museum, to develop a new name, logo, custom typography, website, and visual identity. Director and CEO Sasha Suda stated the rebrand aims to place Philadelphia front and center and make the institution more collaborative and future-focused.
Berlin's Pergamon Museum, closed since October 2023, will partially reopen in June 2027, with only the north wing and central section accessible. The renovation and expansion project, launched in 2012, has faced repeated delays and its budget has ballooned to €1.5 billion. The partial reopening coincides with the bicentenary of Berlin's Museum Island and will bring back the Pergamon Altar, unseen for over a decade, along with redesigned permanent exhibitions for the Museum of Islamic Art and the Museum of the Ancient Near East. However, major attractions like the Ishtar Gate and the Market Gate of Miletus will remain closed until the 2030s, with full museum completion now estimated between 2037 and 2043.
The Portland Art Museum is hosting the first major museum retrospective of Yoshida Chizuko (1924–2017), a pioneering Japanese modernist painter and printmaker. The exhibition features over 100 works, including early oil paintings, monotypes, woodblock prints, lithographs, and mixed media pieces, many never before exhibited. It traces her career from avant-garde abstraction in the 1940s and 1950s through op art and photoetchings in the 1960s and 1970s to nature-inspired late works, and includes a planned major acquisition from the Yoshida family estate.
I 10 migliori padiglioni da vedere alla Biennale d’Arte di Venezia 2026. La top ten di Artribune
Artribune presents its top ten must-see national pavilions at the 2026 Venice Biennale, which features a record 100 participating countries. The article highlights standout projects including Greece's escape room by Andreas Angelidakis critiquing nationalist populism, Belgium's participatory dance installation by Miet Warloop, and Canada's greenhouse-like pavilion by Abbas Akhavan exploring colonial botany. The Biennale, curated by Koyo Kouoh under the theme "In Minor Keys," is marked by last-minute jury resignations leading to public voting for the Golden Lions, as well as protests over the participation of Russia and Israel.
Marina Abramović has become the first living woman to be honored with a dedicated exhibition at the Gallerie dell’Accademia di Venezia, titled “Marina Abramović: Transforming Energy.” The show, which coincides with her 80th birthday, features works selected in dialogue with Renaissance masterpieces from the museum’s permanent collection, including pieces such as “The Lovers, Great Wall Walk,” “Balkan Baroque,” and “Pietà (Anima Mundi).” Abramović first visited the Venice Biennale at age 14 and later won the Golden Lion there in 1997; this exhibition marks a full-circle return to the city that inspired her.
Pinta Lima, the 13th edition of the art fair, opened with a vibrant VIP preview and strong attendance of 16,000 visitors. The fair features around 50 booths and special presentations, with a curation-driven approach that includes sections like NEXT (curated by Juan Canela) and RADAR (curated by Ilaria Conti), as well as FORO panel discussions. The fair emphasizes Latin American art, particularly Peruvian contemporary art, and is part of the broader Pinta network that stages fairs and Art Weeks across Latin America and the U.S. Textile, fiber, and ceramic works are notably prominent, recontextualizing indigenous craft traditions.
Saatchi Yates is partnering with creative director and makeup artist Isamaya Ffrench to launch Studio Iron, a new design gallery whose inaugural exhibition opens April 30 and runs through June 7, 2026. The show presents a dense, post-industrial landscape dominated by steel and iron, featuring works by artists including Jannis Kounellis, Paul McCarthy, Jordan Wolfson, Anne Imhof, Marina Abramovic, Nico Vascellari, and others. Furniture, sculpture, installation, and painting collide in a space that resists categorization, hovering between function and non-function, utility and image.
Tang Contemporary Art in Hong Kong is hosting 'Crab', a comprehensive solo exhibition by the renowned Chinese contemporary artist Yue Minjun. The show traces three decades of his career, featuring his iconic 'Laughing Face' series alongside newer works like the 'Flower Series' and 'Stack Series' that utilize diverse mediums including oil, sculpture, and printmaking.
Simchowitz Gallery is presenting "Two of Us," a dual exhibition featuring Ukrainian artists Andrey Samarin and Lera Derkach at Hill House in Pasadena. The show explores the creative dialogue between the two artists, who have lived and worked together in France for the past three years while maintaining distinct individual practices. Samarin’s work focuses on the physical gesture of painting, blending abstraction and figuration influenced by German Expressionism and medieval art, while Derkach’s canvases lean into dreamlike narratives, metamorphosis, and psychological tension.
Sonia Borrell has launched StudioToGallery, a new platform designed to bridge the gap between independent artists and the commercial art market. A survey conducted by the initiative revealed a striking consensus among creators, with 90% of independent artists stating that professional networking and industry connections are more influential to career success than raw artistic talent.
Gallery Brave has opened in Sydney's Hibernian House, a landmark building known for its graffiti-covered walls. Founded by advertising agency Today the Brave, the gallery launched with a show by Shepard Fairey and is now hosting "Among the Brave," a group exhibition featuring over 30 artists in partnership with creative collective KRVNM & midsöle. The gallery aims to provide a platform for street art and community-driven creative expression.
Art in DUMBO has announced that DUMBO Open Studios will take place on April 26th and 27th, 2025, featuring 155 artists who will open their studios to the public across the Brooklyn waterfront. The weekend kicks off with the Sharpe-Walentas Open Studios reception on April 25th, offering a look at 17 artists in the annual residency program. Participants include artists from five residency programs: BRIClab Contemporary Art, Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program, Smack Mellon Artist Studio Program, New York Studio School, and Triangle NYC. The article also details the history of the Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program, which began in 1991 with support from the Marie Walsh Sharpe Foundation and later the Walentas Family Foundation.
The Amorepacific Museum of Art in Seoul has launched "APMA, CHAPTER FIVE – FROM THE APMA COLLECTION," a major exhibition featuring approximately 80 works from its permanent holdings. Running from April 1 to August 2, 2026, the showcase includes a diverse array of paintings, sculptures, and installations by over 40 influential Korean and international artists. High-profile participants include Kiki Smith, Rose Wylie, Carol Bove, and Gala Porras-Kim, alongside Korean masters such as Nam June Paik, Lee Bul, and Haegue Yang.